Strike Anywhere: Secret Show Review

A review of the Strike Anywhere secret show in Portsmouth last night by Joe Watson.

Posted Tuesday, 11 May 2010 by Joe Watson in

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You could be mistaken for thinking you’d walked into a comedy club the moment Strike Anywhere’s lead singer Thomas Barnett yells over the in-house vocal PA “we are Iron Fist and we have you in our grasp”. The band had chosen the moniker Iron Front (after the bands recent Bridge 9 debut) for this, their secret show in a tiny Portsmouth venue on a night off from touring with Pennywise, unfortunately a ticket printing error has left them branded (much to their amusement) Iron Fist. Hence the jokes.

It isn’t often you get presented with the chance to organise such an event true to punk roots, the evening has been co-ordinated without any major advertising and only those in the know are aware of it. There’s a sense of camaraderie in the air as everyone pulls together to make the night special and in true punk spirit the sound engineer even sets about fixing a blown speaker with a soldering iron on the floor minutes before Strike Anywhere take to the tiny stage.

Earlier on the band had amassed themselves in a traditional pub a few doors down, sampling local beers and catching up with friends they’ve made over the past eight years touring these shores, a million miles away from the cavernous stages, security and backstage areas they’d been frequenting on the recent trek.

It’s this sense of intimacy and community that travels out of the pub and into the venue as the opening chords of ‘Sedition’ sends the packed crowd into a chanting, fist waving frenzy. The band quickly tear through tracks from ‘Exit English’, ‘Dead FM’ and ‘Iron Front’ which sees Barnett spending half of one song hoisted into the air above the packed room.

The frontman speaks passionately about the state of their country and the mess that was the recent UK elections. In a time where half a million UK citizens voted for the BNP it’s refreshing to hear their anti-racist, anti-establishment anthems cut through the air, their message is more relevant now than ever.

The band end with ‘Sunset on 32nd Street’ and as the closing chants of “defend our yesterdays, defend our tomorrows together” deafen everyone it genuinely feels as though anything is possible. In a time where ‘punk’ has been watered down to no more than a hair cut or a sweet coloured vinyl collection it’s refreshing to see it alive and well tonight in Iron Fist's grip!